Who’s the worst actor/actress working in Hollywood today?
I’m torn between Keanu Reeves and Leonardo DeCaprio.
It is not Keanu certainly.
Could well be Leo though.
Duchoveny when he is live really stinks. I watch him on SNL and drooled and whinced through the whole thing. He can’t read cue cards, and he can’t act on the fly. I love him in movies and other tv though.
I can’t stand watching that Geller person. She helped me break my addiction to All My Children.
Now that I think about it, this should probably be in IMHO, being a less-than-cosmic topic. Maybe the moderator can move it.
And Keanu REALLY sucks.
I’m hardly a member of his fan club, but anyone who saw DiCaprio’s work before Titanic would not put him anywhere near this list.
His Oscar nomination for Wha’t Eating Gilbert Grape, was really well deserved; he was definitely the standout in that movie. And when he was a couple years earlier he stole This Boy’s Life right out from under Robert DeNiro and Ellen Barkin.
I’ll agree that the whole teen-hunk garbage that came about after Titanic–not to mention his subsequent private-life behavior and some of the bad movies he’s done since then–has made him a bit hard to take lately, but see those two earlier movies before you dismiss him as an actor.
Hopefully he’ll fall far enough from his “star” status to take on some interesting roles again.
And I agree that Keanu’s no DeNiro, but I loved The Matrix, and somehow his goofy, shallow characterization added something to it. But his work in Dracula and that Shakespeare thing he did a few years ago make me alternately cringe and howl with laughter.
I nominate, as worst big-name actor–it’s tough. Kevin Costner? Mel Gibson? Arnold Schwarzenegger’s the worst, but then he’s not really an actor; he’s just a prop for things to explode around. No, his comedies–Yep: gotta go with Schwarzenegger.
And as worst big-name actress, Demi Moore. No Deborah Winger. No, Demi Moore. She sure can suck the life out of a movie screen.
There are a LOT of actors who just annoy me, through no fault of their own.
There are other actors who are USUALLY horrible, but who’ve turned in surprisingly good performances a time or two.
But when we talk about REALLY bad actors, I’m inclined to stick to guys who can’t do ANY role well, who can’t even say ordinary lines like “Good morning, get me a cup of coffee,” as if they mean it. Guys who are barely able to enunciate, let alone convey emotions. My nominees:
-
Chuck Norris. Hands down, the worst of all time. TRY to sit through “Good Guys Wear Black,” and you’ll see what I mean.
-
Steven Seagal
-
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Look, I admit, I’ve LIKED a lot of Arnold and Seagal movies, but even after years of acting, neither has shown the slightest improvement. Neither can say the simplest line convincingly.
-
Denise Richards (Sure, I buy Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist in “The World Is Not Enough.”)
-
Elisabeth Shue (I KNOW she went to Harvard in real life, but she STILL isn’t convincing as an intellectual in “Hollow Man” or “The Saint.”)
-
Keanu Reeves. Whether he’s playing a cop (Speed), an 18th century Frenchman (Dangerous Liaisons), a Victorian solicitor (Dracula) or anything else, he ALWAYS comes across as a moronic LA surfer dude.
[Moderator Hat: ON]
Yup, APB, you’re right – IMHO is the place for this. Off it goes.
David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator
[Moderator Hat: OFF]
Tom Cruise and Melanie Griffin. I won’t even watch a movie with either of these two time wasters. Melanie Griffin makes the stars of Plan 9 From Outer Space look good.
GRIFFITH!!! Dammit. You know what I mean.
I’ll second Blue’s nomination of Melanie Griffith. That Minnie Mouse voice and vacuous expression. Geesh.
For male acting, I’d have to say that that Bill dude (Paxton?) from “Twister” gives an unbelievably wooden delivery.
I’ve always thought that if you take Bond away from Sean Connery there remains one sad body of work. Totally believable in one role but utterly hopeless and embarrassing in anything else.
I agree. She is horrid. And Keanu Reeves defines the term “wooden.” He is worse than DiCaprio.
Another stinker is Andie MacDowell. Every line she uttered in Four Weddings and a Funeral was said in such a way as to be horribly bad.
Come on. Keanu. Hands down, No question.
I’ve seen better acting on “Pirates of the Carribean.”
Melanie Griffith is a weak actress. She was unable to project the slightest sign of intelligence in Working Girl, a part that called for it.
Keanu Reeves, OTOH, is a pretty good actor. He gets the same comments that ignorant people make about one of the greatest – John Wayne. Wayne was a fine actor (see She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or that wonderful pause in the final scene of Fort Apache) and Reeves is of the same type – subtle but deep.
And naming Connery is just plain silly. Outside of Bond, he provided good performances in The Anderson Tapes, The Man Who Would Be King, The Great Train Robbery, Highlander (the best part of the movie), The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hunt for Red October, The Russia House,, and The Rock.
I don’t much like Marilyn Monroe. She’s not smart enough to play a dumb blonde well.
Darryl Hannah and Keanu Reeves, but if I could vote another female lousarama, she’d be Melanie Griffith, didn’t her mom, Tippi teach her anything about acting???
I don’t think Connery is that bad. He’s been quite good in a few of the movies RealityChuck mentioned. Tom Cruise, while he rubs me the wrong way for some indefinable reason, brings a lot of energy to his roles and has done okay with them, I have to admit.
Arnold, Steven, and Chuck are at least not under any delusions that they are real actors, and stick to roles where the dialogue is less than challenging and the action scenes are the point.
Pity the same cannot be said for Keanu. He was okay in Bill and Ted’s Excellent adventure where he was typecast, and in Speed where again it was advantageous to seem somewhat confused and out of his depth. The most unbelievable part of Speed was where he did the clever thing with the tape loop; he does not exude the aura of a man with real craftiness. Or a polysyllabic vocabulary, for that matter. Or a mastery of fire.
When he tries to play a Shakespeare villain, even a relatively minor one like Don Juan, his shortcomings are just too great to ignore. You’re right about John Wayne, RealityChuck - he WAS good, and as he gained experience he became VERY good, IMO; I can’t agree that the same is true for Mr. Reeves.
Okay, I have to confess that the only movie I have seen with Leo was The Man In The Iron Mask. He blew royally.
I remember trying to contain myself when Elisabeth Shue played a 19 year old (looking, anyway) nuclear physicist who had perfected cold fusion in The Saint (what is this Hollywood fascination with the idea of supermodel physicists?). She gave a “scientific talk” to a lecture hall full of physical scientists that went something like this:
“GUSH Golly, rather than a boring old technical talk, let me tell what a paradise the world will be when we all have unlimited energy!Cute dimply smile It’ll be swell! No more war, hunger, famine, death, plague, debt, or yellow teeth! Giggle Gee whiz, adorable children will just be SO happy! Fuzzy animals will litter the sidewalks!..Any questions?”
My date at this movie leaned over and whispered, “you mean like, say, how’s it work?”
Nobody on screen had any questions, except of course Val Kilmer, who saw this as a perfect opening to begin seducing the lady.
I suppose Miss Shue can’t be blamed for a stupid script (A really REALLY stupid script), but she certainly didn’t rise above it in any way.
I think Melanie Griffith can act; regrettably, she can only act one way.
As far as male actors, Jean Claude van Damme is so bad I will not watch anything he is in. If he is in a movie on cable, I’ll turn to the infomercials first before I’m forced to watch him.
Arnold can’t act, but he seems to have so much fun in his movies that the enthusiasm rubs off on me.
Female actors are a little more difficult to judge. The writing for them is so atrocious. i.e. Shue’s part in the Saint. I think what’s her name from Speed and Speed 2 is pretty bad. I also think Julia Roberts is waaaay overrated.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Sly Stallone–a guy who makes Arnold look like Cary Grant. Armold can’t act, but he’s fun, Stallone just reels of stupidity. I think Brad Pitt is over-rated–at least Leo has some movies under belt that were good–Brad is just a pretty face with a nice body (which is enjoyable in its own way, don’t get me wrong).
As for actresses, well, Kim Bassinger is no great shakes, and I’ll second Demi Moore. The Bond girls aren’t really actresses, more like props, so I won’t pick on them. But all in all, it’s Pamela Anderson who makes even Stallone look like a genius. A movie with both of them in it is my vision of hell. Throw in a WWF wrestler–'cuz they’re ALL serious actors just looking for a break–and hell becomes something much, much worse.
Oh, and Costner does fine when he doesn’t try to be some all-fired hero. He’s a regular Joe type, and when he doesn’t overreach, he’s good enough to avoid being in this company, thank you very much.
And don’e you dare say anything bad about Sir Sean Connery, a man who, like Paul Newman, just keeps getting better looking.
You missed Roger Moore.
I see Demi Moore get a few mentions oooeeer! spooky eh?
Racquel Welch, she knew what she was hired for and never gave a cuss about trying to reach higher.
I always wondered what Chevy Chase was trying to do 'cause whatever it was it never worked.
OK, maybe I was a touch harsh on Connery but he just isn’t believable (for me) in anything else. I’ll go with type cast rather than hopeless.
If we’re into blondes, seems to me Darryl Hannah has the edge over Bo Derek. Now there was one talented woman, unfortunately none of it was related to acting.
And on the subject of Moore’s (I agree with casdave, Roger Mooore - the definitive ‘acting’ eyebrow), Dudley Moore – a great actor for a piano player.
another vote for Costner . Yea, he can play a regular guy, 'cause ** that’s what he * is! ** * - that’s not acting.
and a whole hearted 'nuther vote for Melanie Griffith - have some one you hate rent “a stanger among us” where she plays a police detective (?!?!?!) investigating a case in the Hassidic community. At one point, she’s chasing a bad guy down the street in NY, wearing a long skirt and jacket, takes her gun out of her purse, aims and says [squeeky Minnie Mounse voice on] “stop or I’ll shoot” [squeeky Minnie Mouse voice off]
arghhhhhhhhhh